Old Love
by ari-g
Summary: In 24 hours she had him on the floor drunk, doped, about to lose his freaking mind, and still hoping that she would came any minute now.
1. prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing, blah, blah, blah.

_Old Love_

_prologue:_

He knew the moment he opened his door to find Jackie Burkhart standing there with her haunted mismatched eyes that it could only spell trouble for him. But then again, Jackie was always trouble for him. Or any warm blooded man for that matter.

"What ar—" she stopped his words by pressing her body to his and yanking his mouth to hers. He knew it was wrong, that she was upset about something. Fez, probably. Only being mad and upset would get her to his door in the middle of the night. "Jackie, wait" And just like that time all those years ago that she bought him his boots and tried to kiss him, he tries to stop her.

"This usually works better when we don't talk, Steven" His name. God, he hadn't hear her say his name since Sam. Fucking hell, he missed it coming from her lips in a husky whisper. So he kissed her this time, one hand on her hip fussing her body to his and the other buried in that shampoo commercial hair of hers. Because there was one crucial difference between him and the sixteen year old he had been, he knew exactly to what he would be saying no if he refuse her. And he simply wasn't strong enough. He wanted to hear her say his name again. Scream it as he buried himself to the hilt in her. Over and over again.

* * *

The sun coming from the far window directly to his face woke him up. He really had to get some damn curtains. She is not in his bed, and for a moment he wonders if it was all a dream. An extremely realistic dream. Wouldn't be his first about her. Hell he has been dreaming about her naked since Junior fucking Prom. But in his dream she always said I love you, not so much on those first years, but after, he wasn't sure exactly when it started, but every since then she always said I love you. Fuck. He was starting to sound like Forman. He didn't fucking care what the hell she said or didn't said in a freaking dream. Still, he couldn't help but notice that this time there was no I love you's. And it wasn't a dream. No, it was very real, he concluded when she came out of the bathroom with her hair wet from the shower. Wait, she took a shower and she didn't tell him. He loved having her against the tiles while the warm water hit him on the back. Who was he kidding, he loved having her anywhere, and however she wanted.

"Where are you going?" he had to abandon his train of thought when he saw her putting on her boots. She looked at him, and he never wished for his dark glasses more. Her face was completely blank.

"Home" Her answer doesn't give anything away. It's short and to the point. He knows that the others would say that that blankness was the result of his Zen lessons, but Jackie always had her own version of Zen. How else could they explain how no one knew what was going on in her house with the ever absent parents and whatnot. Her Zen consisted on a carefully cultivated image of a shallow, tactless, egocentric cheerleader with the perfect life, and now that that image fell to pieces she adopted his choice of mask, and perfected it to a shinny hard as diamond exterior. At least he hoped it was a mask. She has to feel something about last night. She just has to.

"About last night," He cuts himself off. What the hell is he supposed to say? Last night was great, but you didn't say I love you and could you please say it now. Yeah, that would go oh so well. It may have worked like a charm in 1978 getting him hours of naked happy Jackie, but now it was 1981 and all that would get him is an incredulous laugh and possibly something hard and pointy thrown at his face.

"Last night was a great fuck, nothing else" She is doing it again. That blank face with the hard eyes that won't give anything away. She is standing there, leaning against the dresser that Mrs. Forman insisted he take with him, finishing zipping up her left boot looking perfectly composed and calm while she chops his heart away. God, he hates her. He didn't even have a heart to chop till she came around. "Don't worry, Hyde. This isn't going to become in a 'lest get together again' tear fest" _And why the hell not?_ He wants to scream at her. He wants to grad her shoulders and shake her until her mask falls apart and she is looking adoringly at him again and kissing him softly while she whispers his name followed by I love yous and I'll never leave yous.

"Good. You look horrible when you cry" But she hurt him, and the need to hurt back is too strong to stop the words spilling out of his mouth "And I wouldn't say 'great' but it's not bad for the slut of the group I guess" The old Jackie, the one that gave a damn about what he said, though, or did would have already dissolved into tears. This new Jackie only raised one eyebrow in amusement and curved that pouty mouth in a taunting smirk.

"'Look horrible,' 'not bad' and 'the slut of the group,'" He would like to say that something flashed on her eyes, something like pain, anguish, the ghost of a tear, but that was just wishful thinking on his part. "Never knew you to be so childish, Hyde" He was going for blood and she not only laughed at his face, but she sucker punched him.

"Well, you do, you are, and you jumped me" God fucking damn it, he was childish. She just rolled her eyes and went out of the bedroom. He would like to say that he stayed where he was in his comfy bed and went back to sleep showing that he didn't give a fuck about her. But no, he just had to get up, put on a pair of boxers and follow her. "What is it? You have another fuck scheduled on this morning?" He was expecting her to be hiding tears like that day on the stadium, he was, however, sadly disappointed. She was putting on her jacket. Was a freaking tear too much to ask? Apparently yes, since she looked at him with a 'WTF?' face mixed with more amusement that was good for his sanity.

"Steven, I just expend the night having multiple orgasms" that shut him up and brought very pleasant images to memory. Fuck, she was beautiful when she came. "The fact that I'm standing upright and maintaining a forward motion at the moment is proof of how good all those cheerleader practices were to my perfect legs." Not fair. How the hell was he going to provoke her into confession-mode if she kept with the indirect adulation and the naughty images. "I'm not going to have sex with anyone this morning." For some reason that made him happy. Ok, he knew why it made him happy. So happy, he was sure he was grinning. "This afternoon and tonight is another story though." Now, he was sure he was grinning. Hell, he was probably drooling as she closed the door after leaving the apartment. He didn't even know why he got so mad at her anymore.

* * *

He spent the entire morning in a good mood, smirking whenever an idea what he would do to her this afternoon and tonight came to him. Forman told him to stop smiling that he was being creepy and that he was scaring the customers. Well, too bad for him and all those idiots. He was going to spend hours with a naked Jackie. She wasn't lying about that acrobat comment she once made. She was very flexible and creative. At noon he was practically jumping on his toes. At one o'clock when Randy came to do his shift, he practically jumped over the counter and tossed him the keys to the store. He was in his apartment in fifteen minutes. He spend an hour cleaning up the place and after seeing that there was nothing in the fridge that would make a decent meal, he run to the store to get something. He came back and made dinner. He knew Jackie loved him cooking for her. Something about it being romantic and sexy. So he cooked, he use to do it for money, and he could definitely do it for compliments from the petite brunette. He took a bath and even shaved.

By 4:35 everything was ready, well the meat was still in the oven, but he figure that she could be a little late so he put it in low heat so it wouldn't dry up.

By 5:40, the meat was ready. His knee started that annoying tick.

At 6:15 he opened the wine and drank a cup.

By 7:34, he finished the first bottle of wine.

At 8:02 he grabbed the phone. He didn't call.

At 8:13 he turned on the T.V. and opened a can of beer.

At 9:15 he turned off the T.V. and put on Physical Graffiti

By 'The Wanton Song' (side four, track 2) he was wasted and rolling his second one. And that's when it came to him. His mistake. He assumed she was talking about him, but she never mentioned him. She said: _'I'm not going to have sex with anyone this morning'_ and then she added _'This afternoon and tonight is another story though.' _Meaning that she planned on having sex sometime between this afternoon and dawn, and him like the idiot he was assumed that she was talking about him, about them. Which means that somewhere in this town she is having sex with someone that is not him. He couldn't breathe, hell, he felt like crying and stupid 'Boogie with Stu' was playing and the upbeat almost happy tune made him angry again. It was credited to Ritchie Valens' mom as a sorry from Plant and the bitch sues them. He could just bet that Mrs. Valens and Jackie would get along just fine. Fucking bitch. And god damn it he couldn't help the images from coming. It played like a freaking movie on his head. Jackie fucking another guy. Probably screaming his name too. Telling the whoever he was that she loved him. No, wait, she didn't say that last night, but maybe she was saying it tonight to some asshole while he went in and out of her fucking until she could feel her legs anymore. 'Sick again' was on now. Great now he would never be able to listen to this song without picturing himself as a pathetic loser going after Jackie telling her how he always wanted her while she laughed at him. It used to be the other way around, back in her stalker-phase. Back then, she was the sad L.A. Queen and him the cool, unreachable guy she wanted. The record stopped and silence descended on the apartment. The wine was gone; the dinner was cold, and the meat all dry. And Hyde couldn't help but think that this was exactly why he should have just closed the door on her face yesterday. In 24 hours she had him on the floor drunk, doped, about to lose his freaking mind, and still hoping that she would came any minute now.

She never came.


	2. Fool in the rain

Disclaimer: Not mine

_Old Love_

_Chapter I: Fool in the rain_

He didn't open the store until noon the next day. Not that anyone dared to mention it or complain. Hyde with a hangover wasn't something anyone with the minimal survival instincts dared to provoke.

"Where were you, you son of a bitch?!" Of course no one could exactly say that Fez had any survival instincts.

"Sleeping" the answer was colder than usual and laced with barely hidden anger.

"Sleeping he says!" Fez's annoying voice was seriously getting on his nerves. He entertained the thought of grabbing the girly foreigner by the throat and squeezing until he was blue and shut the fuck up. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe Jackie ended up with this idiot last night. "Do you know what day is today?!" Fez didn't wait for an answer, not that Hyde intended to give one. "Today is the day that MY Michael Jackson's album is supposed to be here!"

"Whatever." See this now, this totally Zen slightly pissed off attitude, this is how he should have acted yesterday. Calm, cool, distant, ZEN. Not like a childish, drooling idiot. Of course Fez was not Jackie. Only Jackie could make him act so much like a freaking hysteric moron.

"... and I'm here since 7:00 AM waiting for the store to open and you were sleeping" his voice broke at end reaching a tone level Hyde was sure wasn't supposed to be heard by humans

"Wait, you've been here since 7:00 AM? Man, the store opens at 9:30"

"I wasn't going to take the chance that some son of a bitch would steal my record"

"You special ordered the stupid lame album. It's behind the counter, no one is going to freaking steal it" _Wait._ He's been here since 7:00. No fucking way anyone who spent the night with Jackie would be out and about at freaking 7:00 AM freezing his ass in a Wisconsin cold morning for a freaking album. And he fucking hates how relived he feels about that. Hyde had more than enough of this conversation, so he grabs the album and practically throws it to Fez. "There you go. Now shut your pie hole"

"Thank you, my curly-haired angry friend" Fez was now hugging the album as if it was a long lost lover or something. "Do you know how long I have waited for this moment, my beauty" He better not be talking to him, or Hyde would be forced to rearrange that sorry excuse of a face. "I won't let anything happen to you. Kelso won't even get to look at you, oh my dark dancing king"

"Uh?" Why was he friends with the weird foreigner again? Hyde had not freaking idea. At least Kelso was still in Chicago, so Jackie wasn't with him. She just got a new job; she wouldn't just pack and leave in the middle of the week to fuck her idiotic ex-boyfriend. At least he was pretty sure she wouldn't.

"Kelso, that son of a bitch, used my original copy as a Frisbee" And Fez continue to narrate another chapter of his book 'Kelso is an idiot with great hair'. Hyde decided to tune him out in order to save his own mental health and possibly Fez's physical one. He really should just have stayed in bed today. In between waiting for Jackie, getting drunk and high, and freaking out that she was probably with another guy, he barely got any sleep at all. He couldn't stop obsessing over whom she may be with. Which is why after spending half the morning awake and going through lists of possible candidates, he decided that he had to do something before he lost his mind. Not that it was actually working. Honestly, what did he expected? That she would take his outburst of last night as confession of his feelings and an apology, and that they could start over? Why not, that's how they usually got back together in the past.

Where the HELL was she?

* * *

"Where is it?" Eric Forman murmured while continuing his search in what used to be Hyde's old basement bedroom. "I could have sworn I just saw it here" What Eric was so desperately looking for was Hyde's old stash that he left behind when he moved out for just in case they run out of it in one of their circles. "Crap! Of course, I got it upstairs so Mom wouldn't find it!" Spring cleaning had always required the boys' creativity and inventive to keep their stash hidden from Mrs. Forman while not doing any cleaning at all.

"Eric, honey. No running inside" his mom singsong when he passed the living room in a rush. The big move to Florida was suspended when Red found out that the odds of finding himself surrounded by thousands of Bobs and Fezs were high indeed. "Luke and Laura together are so romantic, don't you think so Red?"

"World domination or carbonic snow? A foot in the ass is what that Mikkos needs! When I was in Korea..." Eric was happy to escape what he was sure was the beginning of another of Red's rants against soap operas and communists. So not the way he wanted to spend his summer. He entered his room making as little noise as possible and started to look for the stash where he now remembers it to be. Alas, he was not silent enough.

"mmm... Eric?" came the raspy voice of the girl in his bed "What time is it?"

"It's just past noon, Jackie. I saved you some lunch/breaksfast if you want"

"Ok, thanks" Jackie answered slowly raising up from the bed, "I think I'll take a shower first"

* * *

"Hi there, Boss" Hyde didn't know what he found more annoying, being referred to as 'boss', which he always associated to 'the man' and everything he hated about society, or the happy, bubbly tone that Oh-look-at-my-poofy-hair-Randy was using. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" It was the stupid tone.

"It's raining" Ok, it wasn't just the tone; it was Randy that he didn't like. The guy was a weird mix between Kelso and Forman that was just annoying. It was ok when Forman was in Africa and Donna needed a boy toy to distract herself from the pain or whatever other girly thing Donna was going through, but now that his skinny best friend was back the poofy haired one had to go. He already lasted a year and a half too many.

"New guy is right, today's a beautiful day" Fez added from his place on the couch next to the record player where he keep playing his stupid album over and over again, apparently he didn't want to wait to get home to listen to it.

"For the last time, name's Randy" Hyde sighed at what he was sure was the beginning of the same old argument between those two.

"You still haven't earned the right to have a name. You're the new guy"

"I've been here for almost two years"

"So, I've been here for half a deca_t_e and I still don't get called by my name!" Fez said the last part in a rush so it was barely understandable.

"That's because no one can pronounce your name, and it's 'decade'" Hyde clarified against his better judgment.

"That's what I said, deca_tt_e" Fez repeated rolling his eyes. Hyde just sighed.

"No, Fez. It's-

"Choose your battles" Hyde interrupted Randy's intent to correct Fez. Some things just weren't worth the effort.

"You should listen to him, Randy. Hyde always has the best advice" Donna deadpanned from the door.

"Aii, woman you scared me!" Fez practically jumped from his seat "make some noise when you come in. It's only polite"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked an offended Hyde "And shouldn't you be out with that skinny boyfriend of yours?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me, Hyde?" Donna was giving him the slitting eyes, and he had no freaking idea why. But he wasn't Forman, and Donna didn't scare him.

"Now, I don't know what your problem is, Donna, but I have nothing to do with it, so don't take it out on me, man" His guess was that Forman did something stupid and tried to blame it on him. A certain destroyed science project from their elementary school's days came to mind.

"Now, Hyde, how can you be so insensitive?" came Randy's effeminate reproach "Can't you see Donna is suffering over her break up with Forman?"

"What else is new?" Hyde rolled his eyes behind his glasses at Randy's hopeful look, no wonder he was so happy today "They're always fighting and making up before the week is over" the only relevance this held to Hyde was that he was going to have to hear to Forman's whining over Donna, again.

"Not this time" Donna said with a serious and pissed off face. Hyde resisted the urge of rolling his eyes again, and people said that Jackie was melodramatic. At least when she got really mad at him was over things that made sense. Cheating, lack of commitment, marrying a stripper, he got that. He just didn't like admitting he was in the wrong. But Donna, man, Donna gave Forman the third degree over the most stupid stuff.

"I have your tape right here, Donna" Randy said with a creepy happy smile going behind the counter to get the cassette. "I put some of the songs of my band in it, and some others that reminded me of you and us" Figures that Randy would try to get back with the ex-red head after she basically ignored him for a year and a half unless she was fighting with Forman. It was almost like Jackie-Kelso-Fez version 2.0 with the difference that Jackie always admitted to being manipulative, and Donna never would.

"Thank you, Randy" there it was, the flirting and smugness in her tone. She was probably expecting that Fez and he would go directly to Forman to inform him of the possible danger of losing her, or whatever. "I'll make sure I put it at tonight's show" Hot Donna's show now continued to run on the school's breaks when Donna came back to town. And with another glare towards Hyde and a smile towards Randy, Donna was gone.

* * *

"You still can't find it, whatever is that you're looking for?" Jackie asked while drying her hair sitting down on Eric's bed.

"My stash" answered Eric now looking under the bed for the tenth time. "I was sure I still had some left from what Hyde gave me the other day"

"Oh, you mean those ones we smoke last night?"

"I though those one were yours!" Eric's voice got all squeaky at the end of that sentence.

"Eric, I don't hung out on dark, smelly alleys buying the stuff" Jackie said as it was completely obvious, which really it was. Jackie Burkhart didn't do back alleys, her Hyde-period of insanity no withstanding.

"You told me it was yours!" this time Eric added wild gestures to his squeaky voice.

"Well, I lied" Jackie rolled her eyes at his ingenuity. "Everyone knows I lie, _Eric_"

* * *

"Was it just me, or Donna was seriously pissed at Hyde?" Fez asked nervously, Donna was scary when she was mad.

"Whatever, man. It's probably that time of the month or something" Hyde had no patience to deal with whatever was the problem of the week between Donna and Eric.

"Actually, it was something you did, well said to Eric, and he followed your advice" Randy added with barely contained giddiness "and she came to me, and me, being the perfect gentleman, listened to her and consoled her"

"So you are saying that a hot girl came to you mad about her boyfriend and all vulnerable, and instead of taking advantage of the situation, you just listened to her rant" So he did the same thing once for Jackie, not that he'll ever admit to being so... well, Jackie would call it sweet, he called it stupid. Maybe if he had started things with Jacks back then, she wouldn't have been so hung up on Kelso. Yeah, and maybe pigs could fly, they just didn't want to.

"Oh, I remember the days when Jackie would come to me telling me all about how much of a moron Kelso was or how much of an insensitive jerk Hyde was" Fez said sighing dreamily.

_--dream sequence--_

_('For Your Eyes Only' is playing in the background)_

_Fez appears dressed up in a robe like Roger Moore as James Bond on the Havelock's family boat. Suddenly, Jackie appears dressed up also in a robe with the wind sweeping up her hair in an alluring fashion. _

"_Oh, Fezzie. What would I do without you, my brave, strong, exotic spy?" her voice gets all husky and she is looking at Fez with dreamy eyes. _

"_I know, darling. You just can't live without me" Fez says with an awful British accent._

"_Oh, Fezzie. You make so hot. I feel like taking a moonlight swim" Fez drops her robe while she drops his._

_--end of dream sequence--_

"Ok, first of all, Fez" flatly says Hyde "you're not James Bond" Randy nods at this while Fez looks middly offended "and second, that scene's not gonna happen" Hyde just wouldn't allow it, if anyone would disrobe Jackie, it would be him and no one else.

"How do you known it didn't happen already" quipped Fez with a smug smile. _'I would not frog Fez, I would not frog Fez' _was the mantra going on Hyde's head. It would look as if he cared about Jackie. "Although I don't it's going to happen again, what with Jackie spending the night with Eric and all"

"WHAT?!" Hyde exploded, momentarily forgetting all about being zen. Randy looked surprised first and then incredibly happy.

"Yes, last night after Donna threw me out from her closet, I happen to look towards Eric's bedroom and I saw Jackie and him all really close together and laughing through the window" Hyde looked about to lose it. Randy gave a few steps away from him "I figured that Donna's break up with Eric was serious this time, or at least it is for Eric"

"How did you know that they were broken up?" Randy asked for clarification, he was sure he was the first to know

"Oh, I was on the shower in the basement when they broke up" explained Fez

"What were you doing on the broken shower?" Randy asked him bewildered

"I was having some alone time with the lovely Miss June" Fez said matter of factly

"Uhg, sorry I asked" Randy shuddered, some things were just too much information.

"So now Jackie has officially done it with everyone on the group except the new guy" happily announced Fez unaware of effect his little revelation was having on Hyde.

"For the last time, name's R-

"Hey guys" Eric Forman greeted happily at the door—for the last time "Hey, Hyde do you have more of you know what? Jackie smoked all of mine yesterday" Before Eric could even know what happen, Hyde jumped over counter and connected his fist with his face sending him to the floor, all in the space of less than two heartbeats.

"What the HELL, man?" was the barely conscious response of the guy sprawled on the floor.

"Stay the hell away from her, you spindles little twerp" everyone was watching on terrified as Hyde stood there panting and looking madder than they have ever seen him. "How could... How DARE you to... grhh..." usually when he got mad, Hyde had no problem coming up with insults and witty comebacks, but he was too mad and angry to think of anything right now. All he could hear were the 

thuds of his own heartbeat resonating on his eardrums. The only other time he ever felt like this was Chicago or that time that he though Jackie went to Kelso behind his back. Oh, he could see the pattern. Jackie. It was always about Jackie.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Eric spoke slowly, testing his jaw to make sure everything still worked alright. "And could please stop panting? You sound like Darth Vader, it's scary"

"I think he means to be scary, Eric" Fez nervously added from the sidelines.

"Jackie, I'm talking about Jackie!" roared Hyde "about how you basically cheated on Donna with Jackie" The image of his best friend with Jackie was forever painted on his brain now thanks to Fez description.

"What?!" Eric looked more bewildered than ever, "me and the Devil? Are you insane?"

"I saw you from your bedroom window all cosy and laughing together" accused Fez daring him to contradict him.

"We were high" Eric started to explain keeping a cautious eye toward Hyde "She was feeling bad about what happened to her mom and I was feeling sad about my fight with Donna, so we were getting high to stop feeling bad and sad. I did not, nor would I ever sleep with Jackie" Eric finished with a shudder.

"Oh" Something about Eric's speech sounded weir "What about her mom?"

"You didn't know?" a dark frown appeared on Eric's face "She swallowed her weight on sleeping pills. Jackie found her on the sofa" Hyde grimaced at this, Jackie didn't deserve that. "She went into a coma yesterday. My mom heard it from one of her nurse friends and practically had me kidnap Jackie from her job, so she could mother her" So that's why she didn't come to his apartment last night. What did it say about him that he was happy that his ex-girlfriend's mom tried to off herself?

"Where is she now?" Three pair of eyes looked at him strangely.

"She's still at my house with my mother smothering with worry" Eric answered him quietly. As soon as he told him where to find her, Hyde was out of the door.


	3. Just Like a Woman

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Sorry for the wait, the Jackie/Hyde scene was extremely hard to write... and I'm still not sure about it... The title from chapter I was from a Led Zeppelin song, "Fool in the Rain" from their 1979 album, _In Through the Out Door_ (side one, track 3). Thanks to all of you that read this, and thanks to all of you that reviewed. It's really nice having some feedback O) And, in case you were curious this chapter is titled after a Bob Dylan song. I've listened to this song over and over again, and I still can't decide if he sincerely loves Baby or if he and just pities her... anyways back to the story.

* * *

_Old Love_

_Chapter II: Just Like a Woman_

"You're fired!" The burly security guard roared looking ready to kill

"Oh, Oh!" was the intelligent answer from Michael Kelso. "Why?" he added on a shriek.

"You got to be kidding me" Kelso's supervisor was now pointing towards the blonde girl on his right. She would have been pretty and hot if it weren't for the cast on her right leg, another one on her left arm, a black eye, and the many scratches that covered her body.

"How was I supposed to know that a paintball could make her fly over a cliff, god!" Kelso really didn't see how this was his fault, he didn't even know the Bunny was standing so near a cliff, which was more of a high hill, really.

"A paintball shot from this!" the guard was now pointing towards the very large gun on his desk "A gun, Kelso! A paintball shot from a gun!"

"Isn't it cool?"

* * *

"Can you believe he fired me?!" Kelso complained to Brooke while she prepared dinner

"Well, Michael, you did almost kill that poor girl" Brooke looked at him half-amused and half-exasperated. A common reaction to anyone who dealt with Kelso in a daily basis.

"Falling from a cliff won't kill you" Kelso handed Betsy her Princess Leia doll—Eric's birthday present. "I once went down a rocky mountainside and nothing happen" a beat "I bounced off a tree, it was pretty cool"

"Michael, you can't keep doing these things"

"What?"

"Bringing a paintball gun to work, trying to get the bunnies to have a mud fight, blowing up toilets-

"That one was so cool!" Kelso cut her off with a proud smirk

"No it wasn't!" normally, Brooke was incredibly level tempered, but sometimes Michael could make her so mad. One of the many reasons why they weren't together. "You are a father now. At some point you have to grow up, Michael" with that she finished serving the food and went to pick up Betsy from the floor "You have been in that dead-end job for almost two years if you don't count all the times they fired you and re-hired you again. I think you need to take some time off to think about your future, Michael"

"But Brooke, I-

"Why don't you go back to Point Place with your parents for a while, just until you decide what to do and have a plan, huh?" It was hard telling Michael Kelso something like that, especially when he looked at you like you just killed his puppy or something just as horrible. But she has really come to care about him, and someone had to help him grow up.

"Ok, I need a new place anyways"

"What happen?"

"My roommate flooded it"

"You don't have a roommate, Michael"

"Well, if someone would have answered my sign then I would have one, and I wouldn't pay any rent at all"

"Michael, that's not how having a roommate works" Sometimes Brooke felt like she was raising two children instead of one.

"Well, that's how it should work!" Two children indeed.

* * *

When Hyde got to the Forman's, Mrs. Forman was in kitchen in full baking mode. Not the fun one, but the one that left them with more cupcakes that were needed to feed an army.

"Hey, Mrs. Forman... umm... it's Jackie around? I heard about her mom" he asked somewhat nervously

"Hello Steven. Jackie it's in the basement" the answer came in an almost sniffle "I don't know what to do with that girl. She won't speak about it, she won't even cry. It's not natural!" She ended half hysterical getting another batch of cupcakes from the oven and throwing it on the table.

"Uh... That doesn't sound like Jackie" in fact, Hyde couldn't help think, it sounded just like something he would do. Jackie, the zenmaster. It was a scary thought.

"She was even laughing last night with Eric" Now Mrs. Forman was bating some eggs for another batch. "All that bottling up of feelings it's no good for her. Look what it did to you!"

"And on that note, I'm just going to go talk to her"

"Here, take some cupcakes with you"

* * *

_This is it. This is it. _

_This is life, the one you get _

_So go and have a ball. _

In the basement, Jackie was sitting on the couch watching TV like nothing happen. He spent the last 36 hours obsessing over her, her mother just tried to kill herself, and she was watching One day at a time re-runs. That was it!

_This is it. This is it _

_Straight ahead and rest assured _

_You can't b-_

"Hey, I was watching that!" she had the gall to sound annoyed

"Well, too bad. We need to talk" Hyde set the cupcakes on the table and went around it to sit next to her

"What about?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. What he wouldn't give to be able to see inside her head right about now.

"I heard about your mom...mmm... How are you?" a stupid question if he ever heard one.

"Fine" her answer comes with no trace of emotion, and it pisses him off.

"Your mom just tried to kill herself yesterday. You are not fine, Jackie"

"Whatever" Why the hell did he taught Jackie zen? "and it was the day before yesterday"

"What?"

"I found her the day before yesterday" she says calmly reaching for a cupcake

"Oh" Wait a minute... "So why didn't you came last night?"

"Go where?" ok now she was just being purposely obtuse.

"My apartment!"

"Oh, you were waiting for me?" She was killing him now. Fuck, he really hated her "I never say I was going to" ok, true enough, but still she implied it!

"Why didn't you tell about your mom the other night? I would have—

An incredulous laugh cuts him off.

"You would have what? Held me in your arms while I cried on your shoulder and told all about how I felt about my mom?" It's painfully obvious now—it has been for a while, he just didn't want to see it—how jaded she has become. "Get real, Hyde! The only thing we were always good at together was fucking. I didn't want to talk about it. And you know what? I still don't want to. I hate her! The only thing that bothers me it's that she didn't succeeded. I mean how pathetic is that she can't even kill herself properly?"

"So, do you usually go around seducing your ex-boyfriends just because?"Even when they were together and told each other pretty much everything, she still was like friggin' Fort Knox when it came to her parents or things that really hurt her.

"Whatever" She rolled her eyes at him. "And it's not your business anyways"

"You made it my business when you practically assaulted me!" Zen, he has to remember to keep his Zen.

"Oh, please. You practically begged for it" and now she added a hair toss to the eye-roll.

"Jackie, man. Look, I know how you feel about Pam. You can—and I cant believe Im saying this—talk about it" apparently where Zen ends Forman-girlyness begins.

"What do you want me to say, Hyde? Do you want a step by step account of how I found her?" finally her calm was gone. She stood up and looked down at him furiously. "You want to hear how I got home after a tiring but rewarding day at work and the first thing I notice is that Gloomy Sunday is on the record player—yes, freaking Gloomy Sunday because Pam Burkharts life wasn't enough of a cliché: the drunk rich slut that whores her way around the globe" Hyde grimaced at that, hearing the Hungarian suicide song was never a good sign. Hell, that song depressed even him. "and there she was thrown on the sofa, an empty bottle of pills on the floor next to an equally empty bottle of wine, and vomit all over her. Pretty picture, uh?" behind the biting sarcasm he could hear the repressed hurt and anger.

"Jacks, Im sorry. At least she is still alive" he said that with a nervous smile

"She is practically a vegetable." She snorted at that "You want to know why she did it? She wrote it all down on her suicide note" She cleared up her throat hiding what sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. "her latest boyfriend left her for a younger blonde slut, and she couldnt take that her looks were finally going away! Not once did she mention me in that stupid letter!" Now she was screaming with her arms up on the air "Me! Her only friggin' daughter! Not once did she fucking thought about me when she was taking those pills! And why would she? She never in her selfish existence thought about anyone but herself! Less of all me!" Hyde didn't know what to do, whatever was that he had on his chest that passed off as a heart broke a little watching her eyes starting to tear up while she hugged herself "She never cared about me... and she never loved me! And I did, and I hate her for it!" she started crying, and not her usual sniffles and screams but heart-wrenching sobs with hitched breaths. He never saw her cry like that before. He panicked, and as always his first instinct was to run to get Mrs. Forman, but then she looked at him with those eyes and he was trapped. "Why didn't she love me, Steven? Why can no one ever just love me?!" With sudden clarity he knew that this was it, the last time that she would ever allow herself to breakdown in front of him. If he didn't come through for her, she would never trust him again enough to open up. So, for the first time in a long time he swallowed up his panic and pride and he touched her arm tentatively. She looked at him surprised at first and then she threw herself on him, her head on his shoulder and his arms around her. And he resisted the sudden urge to tell her that he had loved her, that he still did against everything he ever believed into, against everything he was supposed to be. He never stopped. He was starting to think that he never would.

Suddenly the basement door opens with a bang, and there is Michael Kelso

"I'm back! Be aware ladies of Point Place!" Jackie rises her head from Hyde's shoulder and both look at him surprised "Hey since when are you two back together? I always miss everything!"

"We're not" that was Jackie, the emotionally destroyer of men. His own personal little hell.

"We're... not" he didn't mean for it to come out all hesitant like, it just kind of did.

* * *

R&R... xfa


	4. Little Girl Blue

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

sorry for the wait, my muse had PMS, you know, she was all "I'm not going to inspire you 'cause you're real and I'm not! and where is my Long Island Tea!" she is such a spoiled little brat sometimes

Ok, after discussing old songs with my drumming teach and realising he didn't know about "Gloomy Sunday," it occurred to me that I may want to explain a little bit about it. It's a song written in 1933 by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezso Seress after his fiancée left him. The song it's about how his lover died and he can't live anymore and wants to kill himself. The song came to be known as "the Hungarian Suicide Song" after being involved in more than dozen of suicides. One of those ones was Seress' ex-fiancée who killed herself after hearing it apparently, and ironically in 1968 Seress himself killed himself because he could never write another hit. But the suicide spree doesn't end there, which resulted in the song being banned by most radio stations. However, the song is continually being recorded in various languages including English. For a list of the different versions recorded go to .org/wiki/Gloomy_Sunday

Yeap, I'm a music geek.

* * *

_Old Love_

_Chapter III: Little Girl Blue_

"So let me get this right: You got fired for shooting a bunny down a cliff?" a bewildered Randy said while passing the joint to Fez who was eating his way into a candy/pot induced coma.

"No" Kelso answered as he was talking to a kid "I got fired for shooting a paintball to a Bunny, future Miss July actually, and the cliff just appeared out of nowhere" he finished rolling his eyes.

"I'm sorry. Am I the only one that wants to discuss how my best friend used me as a punching bag for no good reason" Eric complained while holding a raw steak to his cheek and eye.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, Esmeralda" Hyde said taking his own hit. "I thought, we all did, that you cheated on Donna with Jackie" even in his doped state when he said it like that, it sounded, well, far-stretched.

"How could anyone think I'll sleep with Jackie?" the steak did a twitchy arch over the table, "She is like the slightly less evil sister I never had"

"But you do have a sister, a whorey one that married me"

"I said a less evil one, Fez" Eric paused to take a hit "slightly, but less evil nonetheless."

"Someone actually agreed to marry you?" Randy asked even more bewildered

"Laurie doesn't discriminate against different races, sexes or species" Hyde quipped with a smirk "no wonder she likes Canada"

Loud steps on the stairs made them jump on their seats. In a hurry Eric hid the joint, Fez opened and closed the door while Kelso and Randy fanned the smoke out with their magazines and Hyde emptied a can of air freshener.

"And that's how we became independent from the British" Eric said with his best teacher tone.

"Thank you, my good professor friend" Fez nodded towards Forman

"Oh, look at you being... all patriotic" Kitty Forman smiled at the sight of all her boys together again. Now if only that fluffy-haired one would just leave, everything would be perfect. "Aren't they cute, Red? Discussing historic things?" Mrs. Forman finished with her signature laugh. Her husband snorted and glared at them. When the tribe of dumbasses he had living in his basement tried to look innocent, it meant that they were doing something that deserved a foot in ass. He set the heavy tool box on top of the deep freezer and took the laundry basket from Kitty. He frowned, that box didn't use to be so heavy; he was really getting old.

"I already taught all that to the foreign kid" his frown deepened. The tall, stupid one was singing 'ipsy, tipsy spider,' which, ok, wasn't exactly abnormal for him, but the fact that Randy was doing the hand motions for the song while Eric tapped his foot in perfect rhythm was weird; his son was never in rhythm with anything. "What are you morons doing?" Steven smiled at them trying his best to look innocent, he failed miserably. "and what is that smell?" everyone froze for a second or two and then all started talking at the same time.

"uhh.."

"mm..."

"eek!"

"..mmm.."

"Randy scratched the paint job of the Toyota with his drumsticks the other day" Eric threw in desperately. Sink. Hook. Pull.

"What?!" we have a big, scary, angry Red.

"I..mmm... Sorry..." Randy trembled.

"Upstairs now, Farrah! you'll show me that scratch and then I would determine how far up your ass is my foot going to go" when the door closed after them, Hyde looked at Forman with almost pride.

"Forman, you managed to avoid a foot in the ass and burn Randy in the same sentence. Nice"

"The tiny evil one is a great teacher in arts of diversion of the enemy" Hyde frowned at that. It seemed that Jackie and Forman were spending a lot of time together. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"So, you and Jackie seem very chummy lately, huh?"

"She's a nice girl" Eric shrugged

"Nice? Jackie?" Hyde raised an eyebrow amused

"Ok, fine. She's not always nice" he rolled his eyes "but she is a good friend" Hyde couldn't argue with that, it was true, "which is why she is right now fixing this mess with Donna" So that's why there was a minimum of whinnying."It also helps her to distract herself about Pam, you know"

"Yeah. So, what's the mess anyways?"

"I screwed up. What else?"

* * *

"Donna" Donna looked up from her furiously diary scribing surprised. There was a time when having Jackie barge into her room was a common occurrence and a certainty when Eric did something stupid. Nowadays it was an exception. "Eric is a moron, which you already knew, and you're an hypocrite, which you may not have known. Now make up already!" she finished with a cheer. "Seriously, he is whinnying like a spoiled little girl; it's beyond annoying"

"No, he hurt me. He lied to me, Jackie. You have no idea-

"How it feels?" Jackie snorted "having your boyfriend lie to you? being hurt? feeling cheated? tell me when I said something that I haven't experienced firsthand, multiple times, Donna" her voice was cold and Donna looked at her like seeing her for the first time; everything about Jackie was cold now. "The difference is that Eric didn't cheat. He would never even think about it. He's better than that and you know it" Jackie Burkhart was defending Eric, Donna wondered what was next: flying monkeys? Hyde dancing ballet? "So Eric dated another girl in Africa, big deal"

* * *

"Eric dated another girl in Africa!" Everyone looked at Fez, and then Hyde and Kelso turned to Eric with surprise

"Way to go man!" Kelso made a toast to him with his lollipop, "wait, was she hot?"

"That's not the point, Kelso" Eric said around a mouth full of chips "but if you must know, yes she was very hot"

"You are so screwed, man" Hyde looked at him with mock pity and then laughed

"We were broken up" Eric defended

"You broke up with her" this came from Fez

"She was dating Randy"

"You broke up with her in a letter" Kelso laughed "that was cold, a good burn, but cold"

"She started dating him before I dated Addie"

"Forman, man, you broke up with her in a letter and then turned around and started dating this hot chick in Africa" Hyde tasked amused

"I'm screwed"

"You are screwed"

"You are so screwed you'll be lucky if Big Red ever lets you touch her again" Kelso laughed again

"This bag of sweets has more chance of surviving a day than you have with Donna" Fez munched the rest of the bag

* * *

"You are defending him? You are supposed to be my friend!" She expected that Jackie would be on her side, that she would offer to emotionally destroy Eric or something along those lines. It's what best friends do. _Yeah, because that's what you did after Laurie or after the nurse or after Sam_ said an annoying little voice in her head, she choose to ignore it.

"Which is why I'm telling you the truth. Because friends tell each other when they are being gigantic morons about to throw their life down the tubes" Jackie gave a sigh and came into the room. "You two were broken up and you were dating Randy before he even met Addie"

"And how do you know so much about it?"

A sigh "Eric wrote to me about it"

"What, you were pen-pals or something?" the idea was ludicrous; Eric and Jackie hated each other.

"Yeah, something like that" Jackie gave a step forward, so that she was inside the room but still by the door. "He met Addie when he took one of his students, Muhammad, to the hospital where she volunteered. The kid didn't make it, malaria, and he wasn't the only one of his students with the disease," Donna was looking at her stunned, Eric never told her any of this "Addie helped him cope and helped him keep his sanity" another step forward, she was by her desk now "Africa wasn't just another country; it was another life, a lot harder and crueler than any of us could imagine. Addie gave him peace of mind and something to hold on in all that madness" Donna never tough about it that way, she liked to pretend that she was tough and strong because of her parents' divorce, and that she knew about pain and loss. But every once in a while she would realize that she didn't know, at least not to that degree, because she had lived a safe and guarded life; there were things about pain and loss that she didn't known and hoped to never known. "He felt so guilty for liking her. You have no idea how it ate at him"

* * *

"So she was your Florence Nightingale?" Hyde went to the deep freezer to get a pop-stick.

"Mostly, yeah" a sad smile crossed his face "she was sweet and tender with everyone. I tried very hard not to like her. It didn't work"

"What I want to know is why was Donna mad at me" The ice-cream was partially melted for being inside the broken freezer, but he didn't care.

"I think she thinks that you gave me an advice about going out with other girls in Africa"

A blink "that sounds more like something Kelso would say"

"Hey!" Kelso yelled "wait, yes it does sound like me" he laughed

"Oh, she thinks that Hyde is your 'evil-best-friend'" Fez added from the sidelines

"And how do you know what she said?" Eric glared at him

"Oh, I was there"

_=== flashback ===_

_So I, Fez, was enjoying some quality alone time on the old shower with lovely miss June when the basement door crashed open. I didn't need to see her to know that Donna was pissed, you could practically feel the air cracking. _

_"Eric!" she yelled "Eric, where are you?" oh, she was pissed alright. I trembled in my hiding place and tried to think of a way to warn my good friend without risking my life. Nothing came to mind._

_"Donna? are you ok?" oh, Eric, no, do not approach the furious Amazon "You look ummm are you mad about something?" at that moment I had no idea how did Eric survived to adulthood. I mean, one did not go against mad women that could bench press you._

_"Oh, I'm mad alright" her voice came in a contained whisper "Do you know why?" don't ask, run, run_

_"Why?" No, bad Eric! She's gonna kill you, and she'll find me here and then kill me. I don't wanna die now that I'm finally getting some._

"_Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm mad because of this!" She threw something at him, I think. But I couldn't see what it was and was too afraid to peek._

"_Where did you get this? Did you go through my stuff?" Even I knew that that was the wrong thing to say and I didn't know what she threw at him. Oh, Eric! _

"_Is that all you have to say for yourself? 'did you go through my stuff' ?" her voice came in a low hissing, like a big anaconda. Aiii, I hate anacondas. "What about you explain to me why did you have a picture of you and another girl in OUR suitcase, in OUR stuff! And what the hell did you mean by the caption 'to my evil-best-friend, thanks for the advice, you were right, E'! So what? Now our friends are advising you to cheat on me?" Aiii! That's when I started to pray for our lives. I mean, I've know Eric for five years, I knew he was going to put both feet and legs into his mouth. _

"_I didn't cheat on you! I would never!" so far so good, I breathed a little. Now if Eric could only remember how Kelso always got out of these situations, we could get out of these with our lives and our bodies intact. "I dated her in Africa, when we were broken up" Aiii, didn't he know anything? You are supposed to lie, Eric! Negate, negate! That's the first rule!_

==== end of flashback====

"It's true, you have negate everything, right Hyde"

"Complete denial, Watergate, man"

Kelso pointed at himself "I mean look at me, I survived cheating on Jackie! They should make monuments on my genius!"

"I didn't cheat on her!" Eric yelled

"Besides, didn't she found you out and then broke up with you and leaving, you now, impotent?"

"Ahh uh!!! I wasn't... it didn't... Hyde! you promised you wouldn't bring that up again!"

"yeah, it is not nice of you to remind friends when they were having problems performing" Fez and Hyde smiled evilly

"hey! I don't have any problems! I'm..

"flaccid" Eric added. They all laughed except Kelso

* * *

"Wait. You are his 'evil-best friend,' not Hyde" She stud up to tower over the small brunette. "What the hell?!!"

"Huh? What does Steven Hyde got to do with this?"

"That stupid picture had 'to my evil-best friend, thanks for the advice, you were right, E' written at the back" Any normal person would be cowering from the towering blond with the angry flush, but Jackie didn't step back. She did lower her head a tab though. "You! you, my best friend advised my boyfriend to date other girls!! what kind of bitch does that!! how could you?!!"

Anger flashed in those mismatched eyes "Ok, first of all Donna, he wasn't your boyfriend anymore. Hell, you were dating another guy!! one who had better hair than you do, if I may add." Jackie gave one step closer to her and her eyes were like chips of ice "and 'your best friend', ha! I thought your best friend was that bimbo with the trans am. You know, the slutty one that married the guy I loved and gave up my future to be with? yeah, what kind of bitch does that?"

"Don't make this about you! and you told me that you were over Hyde, and I just wanted to make her feel welcome. It wasn't her fault" _weak!_ Donna shooed that stupid voice inside her head.

"Yes, Donna. I was over Hyde, I didn't got drunk and flashed a bunch of people in a bar, I didn't spent nights and nights crying myself to sleep, I didn't expected my bestfriend to be there for me, I wanted to make the bitch who destroyed my life feel welcome! And of course it wasn't her fault, she just 'forgot' to inform her new husband that she was already married!" The petite brunette took a deep breath "but you're right this isn't about me; it's about you and Eric. He loves you, it's a simple as that. He broke up with Addie because he was still in love with you and didn't think it was fair for any of you. So he came back! For you! Do you even know how lucky you are? How rare it is to find someone who loves you that much? Well, I'm not going to let you ruin something that great" Wide green eyes stared at her with shock, "so now, you're going to put on something pretty—that means no plead—and you're going to go next door and make up with the boy who've worshiped you since the first grade, understood?" Donna blinked "good! Now hurry up before Eric starts mopping again." And with that the ex-cheerleader started a hunt for the perfect outfit on Donna's closet.

* * *

"I can't believe Jackie's mom tried to kill herself" They were all watching Randy who was carrying heavy box after heavy box from the garage

"I can't believe Donna actually broke up with me"

"Here we go" Hyde rolled his eyes at his friend.

"I mean she was hot! If she was depressed, all she had to do was come to me. All of this," Kelso motioned towards his face and body "makes the ladies very happy"

"That's not what I heard from Jackie, man" Hyde smiled evilly taking a swing from his beer.

"Uh!! Ah!!" Eric chuckled at Kelso's indignant face

"Hello! Help? Someone? Anyone?" Randy stumbled under the weight of a particular large box. The four friends ignored him. Fez looked especially happy.

"Eric, your dad is an evil genius" the foreigner munched on a cupcake

"But seriously, no stupid comment to Jackie about her mom. She is having a hard enough time without having to deal with stupid 1 and 2 here" Hyde gestured to Fez and Kelso.

Eric raised an eyebrow, "that's very considerate of you Hyde, didn't think you cared"

Before Hyde could respond to that, the telltale clunks of clogs hitting the pavement came from his left. He knew that walk. Jackie.

"Hey, what're you doing?" four pair of eyes turned towards the raspy voice.

"Jackie! my dark princess!"

"Hi, Fezzie" she gave a little laugh. Hyde hated that stupid nickname.

"You know Jackie if you're feeling down I'll always be here in case you need someone to make you feel better" a bit "physically, you know" Jackie raised an eyebrow and looked questionably to Hyde. He shook his head. No he didn't say anything about that night and like hell he was going to give that info to Kelso.

"I'm fine Michael, really"

"Because if your mom should have come to me, I would ha-ow! Damn Hyde! What was that for?"

"I just missed you, man" he gives a smartass smile and Kelso shrugs.

"Jackie, did you talk to Donna?" Eric looked at her hopefully. Also, if there was something he learned by being her close friend these two years is that when it really hurt, Jackie preferred not to talk or think about it, which is why she offered to help him.

"I'm sorry Eric, I really tried" Eric swallowed nervously and tried to keep from crying or something equally embarrassing. "but really there is only so much even I can do with a horrible clothes collection and that lumberjack body type of her"

"What?"

"I mean look at her" she gestured towards the basketball basket were Donna was standing in a pair of jeans and a cute top "is a dress so much to ask for?" She rolled her eyes at the awed expression in Eric's face "What are you waiting for? Go, kiss and make up already"

Eric smiled at her and run to Donna.

* * *

"Hey"

"Hey"

"I'm sorry" they both said at the same time, and they smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Donna"

"No, I'm sorry." she took a deep breath "No, let me speak. I over reacted. We were broken up; of course you could date other people. I was dating Randy, for Pete's sake. I just… It's just… You never really dated anyone but me, you went to California to be with me, and then suddenly you leave and break up with me, in a friggin' letter, and now I found out you dated another girl. It's like you were always mine and then you weren't. Why didn't you tell me about it? Why did you kept that picture?"

"Donna, I kept the picture because" he gives a sight "I cared about Addie, but I didn't love her. I only ever loved you; you are the only girl I want to love." He took a step closer to her "I didn't tell you because I'm a moron." She chuckles at that "things were working between us again and I just didn't want to upset you. I knew it was going to bother you, so I didn't tell you. Jackie told me I was being stupid but I didn't listen to her, I'm sorry"

"That's another thing. Why did Jackie knew? She told how you met her, why didn't you tell me how things were really in Africa?"

"Ok, remember when you had me shopping for our wedding stuff with Jackie?"

"Yes, you had more fun with her. You said that she didn't ask you questions. She just told you what to do"

"Yeah, well sometimes she doesn't tell me what to do, but she listens. And, somewhere under all that evil devil spawny thing she has going on, she is… nice. She is a good friend"

"Yeah, she is" she looked at the girl in question. She was looking at them with a sad smile. She was the only that was pressing attention to them. Fez and Kelso were sword fighting with their lollipops. And Hyde was hovering over Jackie's side stealing glances at her while trying to appear not to. He always did that, as long as Donna could remember Hyde always watched Jackie. She felt a pang of guilt when the idea that maybe she had been wrong about them, about Sam and all that.

"So, we're good? Donna?" Eric asked nervously. He silently promised to himself to not do anything stupid that could mean losing her.

"Yeah, we are good" She smiled. "I love you, Eric"

"I love you, Donna" they kissed.

* * *

Hyde looked at them with envy. The idiots made it look so easy. Of course, Forman wasn't him. He didn't marry a striper or anything even close. He glanced at the tiny brunette again. She was beautiful, smart and had an evil streak that made him weak on knees. She loved him. She took care of him and let him take care of her. And fuck he wanted that back.

Jackie turned around at the sound of someone clearing his throat at her shoulder. Steven Hyde was there offering her a can of beer. "Huh?"

"In case you're thirsty or something" his voice sounded normal and his face was blank, but she noticed the wobbling of his Adam's apple. Years of careful study of all his mannerism was a hard habit to break. She used to think she could read him like a book; these last two years, however, left her doubting that she ever really could.

"Thanks" she took the can and stared at it. Steven Hyde was trying to mess with her head, again. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the can again, opened it, and gave it to her again. He remembered that she hated to open cans, she always ended up breaking her nails. She resisted the urge of beating him up over the head with the stupid drink. She could see where this was going, and like hell was she going to walk down that road again. With that decided she turned around to watch the golden couple make up.

* * *

so, what do you think?


End file.
